UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
FEB  27  1922 


Bulletin  of  McKendree  College 


BIBLICAL  LITERATURE 
RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 
RURAL  LEADERSHIP 


OCTOBER,  1921 
Vol.  X  No.  1 


Entered,  as  second-class  matter  March  3,  1913,  at  the  post 
office  at  Lebanon,  Illinois,  under  act  of  August  12,  1912. 


Announcement 

In  co-operation  with  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Mc- 
Kendree  College  offers  work  in  Biblical  history  and  literature, 
Church  history,  religious  education,  community  betterment 
and  rural  leadership. 

Under  Biblical  studies  are  offered  courses  in  Greek, 
elementary  Hebrew,  history,  introduction  to  the  writings  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  oral  interpretation  of  the  Bible, 
and  public  reading. 

By  arrangement  with  and  under  supervision  of  the  Con¬ 
ference  examiners,  work  is  so  planned  as  to  enable  candidates 
for  the  ministry  to  meet  at  the  same  time  requirements  for 
graduation  from  College  and  entrance  requirements  of  the 
Conference. 

Students  so  desiring  can  elect  a  major  (at  least  28  hours) 
under  the  department  as  follows : 


Curriculum  in  Biblical  Literature  and  Religious  Education. 


Freshman  Year. 

Junior  Year. 

Bible  1.  2 . 

9 

U 

2 

Bible  . 

.  4 

4 

English  1,  2 . 

3 

3 

N.  T.  Greek . 

.  3 

3 

Laboratory  Science... 

5 

5 

Religious  Education.. 

2 

Foreign  Language.... 

3 

3  or  4  4 

Rural  Leadership.... 

2 

History  1,  2 . 

3 

3 

Social  Science . 

,  3 

3 

Electives  . 

4 

4 

16 

16  or  17-17 

- 

Sophomore  Year. 

16 

16 

Bible  . 

2 

2 

Senior  Year. 

English  Literature  7,  8. 

3 

3 

Bible  . 

.  4 

4 

Psychology  1 . 

3 

Philosophy  . 

,  3 

3 

Social  Science  (Econ.) 

3 

Church  History . . 

.  3 

3 

Education  . 

3 

3 

Electives  . 

.  6 

6 

Physical  Training . 

1 

1 

Electives  . 

4 

4 

16 

16 

16 

16 

Candidates  for 

the 

ministry 

are  urged  to  include 

among 

their 

electives  an  elementary 

course  in 

Hebrew.  If  the  heginnin 

g  is 

post- 

poned  until  seminary  days,  the  chances  are  that  the  study  will  not 
be  taken  up. 


V]  D‘  1  L{ 
Ub 


XH6 


Following  the  lead  of  the  “Country  Life  Movement”  and 
the  finding  of  the  “Rural  Leaders’  Council,”  the  following 
course  is  proposed.  The  program  for  the  first  two  years  is 
ready. 


Freshman  Year. 

Bible  1,  2 .  2  2 

English  1,  2 .  3  3 

Laboratory  Science .  5  5 

Foreign  Language .  3  3 

History  1,  2 .  3  3 


Total  . 16  16 

Sophomore  Year. 

English  Literature  7,  8 .  3  3 

Psychology  .  3 

Educational  Psychology .  3 

Sociology  .  3 

Rural  Sociology .  3 

Rural  lr  olitics .  3 

Religious  Education .  3 

Public  Speaking .  2  2 

Electives  .  2  2 


Total  . 16  16 


Junior  Year. 

American  Literature .  3  3 

Social  Psychology  and  Leader- 

smp  .  3 

Economics  .  3 

Rural  Economics .  3 

Journalism  .  2 

Community  and  Neighborhood 

Co-operation  . .' .  3 

Community  Clinics .  3 

Electives  .  2  7 


Total  . 18  16 

Senior  Year. 

Bible  .  2  2 

Community  Programs .  3 

Community  Recreations .  3 

Rurai  Education . . .  3 

Church  History .  3 

Health,  Hygiene,  Housing, 

Sanitation  .  3  3 

Electives  .  5  5 


V 


■V, 


Total  . 16  16 

Rural  Life  Association  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Con¬ 
ference,  McKendree  College  co-operating. 

Purpose:  To  quicken  interest  and  enthusiasm;  to  secure 
co-operation  and  better  organization  among  workers ;  to  pro¬ 
mote  all  agencies  that  lead  to  social  and  religious  betterment ; 
and  to  increase  our  command  of  all  means  to  larger  and  more 
efficient  service. 

Conference  Officers: 

President,  Rev.  C.  W.  Flail,  Albion. 

Secretary-Treasurer,  Rev.  Orin  F.  Young,  Palestine. 

Conference  Committeemen: 

Conference,  Rev.  L.  L.  Peterson,  Mt.  Carmel. 

McKendree  College,  W.  N.  Stearns,  Lebanon. 

District  Officers : 

East  St.  Louis — Rev.  C.  C.  Flail,  D.  D.,  President;  Rev. 
C.  C.  Dawdy,  Secretary. 


Centralia — Rev.  Ressho  Robertson,  D.  D.,  President ;  Rev. 
C.  R.  Yost,  Secretary. 

Olney — Rev.  J.  B.  Stout,  President;  Rev.  G.  H.  Hall, 
Secretary. 

Mt.  Carmel — Rev.  J.  A.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  President;  Rev. 
W.  A.  Sharp,  Secretary. 

Carbondale — 

Institutes : 

1.  Week-end  Institutes,  Saturday-Sunday,  including 
work  in  Bible  study,  improvement  of  Sunday-schools,  social 
betterment,  teacher-training.  Closing  lecture  illustrated  with 
stereopticon. 

2.  So  far  as  means  at  command  avail,  series  of  weekly 
lectures,  covering  a  considerable  period  and  presumably  lead¬ 
ing  to  examinations  and  a  certificate. 

3.  Correspondence  and  visitation  by  the  Director,  for  the 
purpose  of  studying  situations  and  helping  in  framing  plans 
for  work.  This  work  provides  valuable  laboratory  material 
for  class  use. 

1.  Rural  Pastors’  School  (1921,  July  11-30)  for  three 
weeks  of  study — Bible,  evangelism,  Sunday-schools,  rural 
leadership,  recreation  and  amusement. 

2.  Epworth  League  Institute  (1921,  Aug.  1-1)  of  the 
Southern  Illinois  Conference  brings  together  about  four  hun¬ 
dred  young  people  for  purpose  of  study  and  inspiration.  A 
staff  of  trained  workers  provide  instruction  in  Bible,  program 
and  methods,  missions,  organization  of  local  work. 

3.  Illinois-Missouri  Interdenominational  School  of  Mis¬ 
sions  holds  annual  session  (1921,  June  14-18)  on  McKendree 
grounds. 

4.  Southern  Illinois  Conference  Candidates’  School  (1921, 
Aug.  1-1),  for  the  preparing  Conference  entrance  examinations. 

McKendree  WORKS  eleven  months  in  the  year! 


The  College  Man  in  the  World 

Wallace  N.  Stearns. 


“No  man  liveth  to  himself  alone.”  This  is  simple  truth 
plainly  stated.  Every  link  in  the  chain  shares  the  strain,  and 
the  failure  of  any  link,  however  small,  is  the  failure  of  the 
chain.  No  man  is  so  humble  a  member  of  society  that  he  is 
not  under  bond,  or  so  insignificant  as  not  to  be  needed.  We 
hear  the  slogan,  “The  world  in  a  generation.”  We  cannot 
save  the  world  by  universals.  The  salvation  of  the  world  is 
to  be  wrought  by  a  summation  of  units.  What  the  world 
demands  in  fine  is  intelligent  service,  not  in  some  faraway 
Utopia,  but  right  at  hand,  at  the  very  task  which,  if  we  neglect, 
some  other  will  perform.  In  fact,  we  are  face  to  face,  you  and 
I,  with  this  question,  “After  college,  what?”  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  College  to  interpret  aright  to  its  pupils  this  problem 
of  life. 

It  is  my  purpose  here  to  speak  of  this  matter  in  terms 
of  lives  I  have  known.  Four  of  my  friends  whose  destiny 
led  them  at  the  close  of  their  college  careers  to  little  towns, 
some  of  them  to  the  hamlets  whence  they  had  set  out.  The 
great  city  claimed  some  of  my  fellows  and  fortune  favored 
them.  And  yet,  to  my  mind,  the  greatest  success  has  been 
achieved  by  these  whose  lives  have  been  wrought  out  not  into 
spectacular  display,  but  into  abiding  results.  Three  of  these 
classmates  represent  three  as  different  types  as  it  would  be 
possible  to  find,  opposite  in  nature,  tastes  and  vocations. 
Young  A  came  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  of  the  state;  he 
was  heir  to  honored  traditions.  Had  he  wished,  he,  too,  might 
have  gone  to  the  city  and  won.  But  a  father’s  need  was  his 
guide,  and  he  went  back  to  the  village  where  the  rest  of  us 
could  find  nothing  to  do.  Even  meddlesome  neighbors  won¬ 
dered  how  he  could  ever  be  content  with  so  little.  But  he 


did  not  go  home  to  sleep.  He  was  a  musician ;  his  first  act 
was  to  organize  a  quartet.  This  was  not  much,  but  it  showed 
his  spirit.  There  was  a  vacancy  soon  in  the  village  schools ; 
he  was  elected  head  master.  This  position  he  held  for  twelve 
years.  A  disorderly  school  was  brought  to  time,  youngsters 
were  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  doing  something,  courses  of  study 
were  improved,  trustees  and  patrons  were  won  over  to  higher 
standards.  But  this  work  as  an  educator  did  not  stop  here. 
The  township  had  been  divided  into  sub-districts,  each 
equipped  with  tumble-down  school  house  and  some  of  them 
with  indifferent  directors  and  incompetent  teachers.  It  was 
at  the  dawn  of  the  consolidated  rural  school  system.  The 
young  principal  became  an  advocate,  listened  to  abuse  with 
perfect  good  nature,  bore  some  humiliating  disappointments 
as  a  true  man  knows  how,  and  lived  to  see  vans  paid  for  out 
of  the  public  funds  to  carry  children  from  even  the  remotest 
country  home  to  the  central  public  school  where  he  himself 
presided.  And  children  carried  new  ideas  back  to  their  homes 
and  in  every  place  the  name  of  A  became  a  word  to  be  con¬ 
jured  with.  The  schools  of  the  state  at  the  time  were  in 
a  sorry  plight ;  a  citizen  of  one  city  in  declining  election  to 
the  Board  of  Education  said  that  he  was  too  choice  of  his 
company. 

He  was  put  up  for  the  legislature.  He  developed  a  gift 
for  public  speaking  and  he  won  his  fight.  He  was  made  chair¬ 
man  of  an  important  educational  committee.  He  framed  a 
bill  providing  for  a  small  supervising  committee  of  education 
in  each  county,  in  place  of  the  unwieldly  local  committee  made 
up  of  men  either  wholly  without  interest  or  with  interest  more 
personal  than  befits  public  servants.  He  saw  the  bill  become 
a  law  for  all  the  State  save  five  cities  where  certain  opposing 
forces  could  not  be  dislodged.  Four  years  later,  but  too  late 
for  him  to  know  it,  these  five  cities  roused  from  their  torpor 
and  joined  the  procession.  The  state  has  been  wrought  over 
by  the  efforts  of  a  small  band  of  heroic  men  who  counted  the 


village  principal  as  their  leader.  He  endured  insult,  he  refused 
personal  advantage,  he  fought  his  fight,  and  he  won  his  victory. 
A  certain  man  then  in  office  who  held  him  up  to  contempt 
has  since  gone  down  in  humiliating  defeat. 

The  shore  of  Lake  Erie  had  long  been  a  favorite  haunt 
for  men  of  wealth.  Mile  after  mile  of  lake  front  has  passed 
into  private  estates.  Our  friend  saw  that  the  poor  man  would 
eventually  have  to  take  his  bath  from  some  adjacent  high  tree. 
With  a  few  sympathetic  followers  he  began  to  agitate  a  town¬ 
ship  park.  Three  thousand  dollars  was  the  price.  This  time 
the  people  only  made  fun  of  him.  But  the  young  apostle 
traversed  the  country,  and  actually  got  the  township  bonded 
for  the  amount.  Today  this  park  is  the  one  spot  where  three 
thousand  or  more  people  can  visit  the  lake  without  paying  a 
fee  of  some  sort  or  taking  a  risk  of  ejection.  Other  townships 
have  followed  the  example,  and  these  simple  playgrounds  are 
to  me  the  most  beautiful  reserves  on  the  lake  front.  But  this 
young  fellow  did  not  rest  here.  He  took  over  the  village  pa¬ 
per  ;  he  became  its  editor,  and  thereby  he  secured  a  hearing. 
He  became  mayor  of  the  village.  Folks  began  to  sit  up.  They 
heard  of  old  buildings  that  were  a  disgrace  to  the  town,  of 
mud  sidewalks,  of  streets  below  grade,  of  disorderly  places 
and  crowds ;  even  the  best  of  citizens  were  fearful  now  and 
opposed  his  measures.  But  gradually  people  went  over.  To¬ 
day  there  is  hardly  a  more  comely  village  of  its  size  in  the 
state.  Paved  walks,  telephones,  electric  lights,  fire  apparatus, 
interurban  railway,  etc.,  and  now  citizens  are  talking  of  paved 
streets  and  more.  The  old  buildings  are  nearly  all  gone. 
Three  times  have  parts  of  the  town  been  swept  by  fire,  and 
thrice  have  risen  again. 

Around  the  grave  of  this  young  man,  some  three  years  since, 
there  gathered  a  notable  crowd  of  college  presidents,  legis¬ 
lators,  teachers,  men  of  high  finance,  and  laboring  men.  Every 
one  had  lost  a  friend  and  every  one  acknowledged  his  obliga- 


tion.  And  through  all  those  twelve  years  not  one  word,  spoken 
or  written,  had  A  uttered  that  could  have  been  used 
against  him. 

Another  man  went  from  the  farm,  where  there  is,  of 
course,  no  chance  to  do  anything.  Nevertheless,  he  achieved 
the  impossible.  His  home  was  a  little  hamlet  on  the  crest  of  a 
hill  that  could  boast  of  the  deepest  clay  in  all  the  country 
around.  But  B  went  back  home  and  commenced  work.  The 
land  failed,  crops  failed,  farmers  were  in  despair.  Buildings 
went  to  ruin,  cattle  were  sold,  and  the  few  thrifty  farmers  who 
stood  by  confessed  that  it  hardly  paid.  B  had  an  idea  of  chem¬ 
istry.  He  began  to  study  the  soil  and  concluded  that  the 
farmers  had  been  deceived  in  their  fertilizers.  He  became  an 
agent  for  fertilizers ;  he  prepared  an  analysis  for  a  new  fertil¬ 
izer  and  had  it  made  at  his  own  financial  risk.  The  plan 
worked,  farms  improved,  crops  were  better,  and  this  rural 
Moses  is  the  oracle  for  the  very  men  who  not  long  ago  counted 
him  a  fool.  B  next  noticed  the  isolated  life  of  farmers’  fami¬ 
lies.  He  started  the  idea  of  a  rural  telephone.  Sixty  families 
gradually  ventured  in.  Today  a  farmer  in  that  little  village 
can  sit  by  his  desk  and  call  up  any  person  as  enterprising  as 
himself  anywhere  in  more  than  thirty  townships,  and  thus 
transact  business  without  leaving  his  farm.  But,  what  was 
worse,  the  farmers  had  no  money.  The  next  step  was  a  co¬ 
operative  creamery.  With  the  help  of  a  half  dozen  associates 
this  enterprise  was  put  on  foot.  Ten  years  ago  the  farmer  had 
a  precarious  income,  a  pittance  just  after  harvest,  and  crops 
were  hauled  to  market,  too,  over  eight  miles  of  the  clay  roads 
referred  to  above.  Today  every  farmer  who  will  may  receive 
a  check  for  his  goods  every  month  and  he  may  pay  up  his  bills 
in  the  same  way.  That  creamery  has  transformed  the  clav- 
whackers  into  modern  business  men. 

Then  B  became  a  machine  agent.  Farm  machinery  was 
brought  to  his  farm.  Men  came  and  looked  and  learned,  and 
they  bought  the  machinery.  Grasshopper  cultivators  and  peg- 


tooth  harrows  gave  place  to  modern  farm  machinery  and 
modern  methods.  New  buildings  are  going  up,  and  farmers’ 
homes  begin  to  wear  a  semblance  of  comfort.  Pavements  have 
overcome  the  horrors  of  clay  roads,  and  an  interurban  railway 
is  more  than  possible  that  will  sweep  this  once  desolate  hamlet 
out  into'  the  life  of  the  world. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  speak  at  such  length  of  the  third 
man.  His  lot  fell  in  a  dead  little  academy  town.  He  began  as 
a  teacher  in  that  academy,  and  became  the  principal.  He  had 
ideas.  After  deciding  that  matters  could  be  no  worse,  the 
trustees  told  him  to  go  ahead  and  work  them  out.  The  young- 
fellow  canvassed  the  country  around,  house  to  house.  Pie 
secured  enough  students  to  open  the  school  in  the  fall.  In 
ten  years  the  buildings  were  done  over,  endowments  became 
available,  students  began  to  come  in  of  their  own  accord. 
Then  a  renaissance  struck  the  town.  Men  had  gone  to  adjoin¬ 
ing  towns  for  fuel  or  else  stolen  it  from  flat  cars.  A  coal  yard 
was  started.  The  owner  was  C’s  man  doing  business  at  C’s  risk. 
He  became  an  elder  in  the  church  and  things  began  to  stir. 
New  furnishings,  new  organ.  He  got  into  local  politics.  One 
after  another  things  down  town  began  to  take  on  life.  Proxies 
played  the  roles,  but  the  young  man  did  the  work.  Then  he 
acquired  more  ideas.  Something  must  be  done  for  the  tumble- 
down  colleges  and  academies.  C  resigned  the  principalship, 
became  a  member  of  the  staff,  and  started  after  legislation. 
He  stood  for  election  and  went  to  the  legislature.  The  game 
is  still  on,  there  remains  yet  much  to  be  done,  and  there  is 
still  woeful  need  of  improvement.  But  the  leaven  is  working, 
this  young  fellow’s  ideas  are  taking  shape,  and  friends  of  edu¬ 
cation  are  hoping  they  may  crystalize  into  legislation.  As 
for  the  academy,  new  buildings,  new  students  and  new  hopes 
have  given  new  life  and  augur  well  for  the  future. 

A  fourth  man  was  a  clergyman.  As  a  student  he  had  dis¬ 
tinguished  himself  as  a  debater,  college  orator,  chapel  choris¬ 
ter,  writer  and  editor  of  college  periodicals.  He  was  a  fine 


musician  and  a  fair  athlete.  He  had  maintained  high  scholastic 
standing.  Necessity  had  compelled  him  to  work  throughout 
his  college  course  and  as  a  consequence  the  young  man  was 
possessed  of  due  confidence,  enterprise,  initiative,  and  resource¬ 
fulness.  On  graduation  he  was  called  to  a  little  prairie  town, 
overchurched  and  surcharged  with  denominational  bitterness 
born  of  the  fight  for  existence.  In  the  face  of  bitter  official 
opposition  two  of  these  churches  had  federated  and  this  young 
theolog  was  called  to  the  task  of  organization.  Beginning  at 
the  bottom  he  built  up  a  stock  of  good-will.  He  showed  an 
interest  in  the  village  schools  and  became  coach  for  debate  and 
football.  He  discovered  much  latent  musical  ability  and  built 
up  a  choir  and  ultimately  a  chorus  society  that  became  famous 
in  the  state  and  whose  members  were  invited  to  other  towns 
to  sing.  He  organized  a  Commercial  Club  that  gathered  in 
the  business  men.  Attention  was  called  incidentally  to  dirty 
alleys  and  plague  spots  about  town.  Streets  were  cleaned  up, 
unsightly  spots  became  grass  plots,  tree  planting  received 
fresh  impetus.  People  followed  up  the  Church  and  attended 
the  services.  The  building  was  painted  and  renovated,  Sun¬ 
day-school  facilities  were  added,  money  became  more  free  for 
such  purposes.  Young  people  caught  a  larger  vision  of  life 
and  of  its  duties.  When  war  came  more  young  men  went  to 
the  front  than  from  any  other  town  of  its  size  in  the  state. 

Opposition,  of  course,  never  ceased,  but  the  Church  grew, 
people  met  and  came  to  know  and  to  respect  one  another  more 
highly,  and  young  people  found  ways  for  expending  their  en¬ 
ergies.  Idle  hours  came  to  be  wisely  invested,  and  long  winter 
evenings  became  seasons  of  profit.  The  young  dominie  was 
accorded  a  column  in  the  village  newspaper,  and  his  weekly 
message  was  like  a  beacon  on  a  lone  shore.  A  village  was 
set  in  the  way  of  progress ;  new  building's,  clean  roads,  electric 
lights,  and  public  spirit  and  pride  have  been  stirred.  It  does 


not  seem  possible  that  the  good  people  of  that  town  thus 
roused  to  a  consciousness  of  themselves  can  po  back  to  their 

o 

old  way. 

Tho  he  labored  unselfishly,  our  friend  became  known. 
Frequent  calls  came  to  other  fields,  and  at  last  it  was  folly 
to  refuse.  In  a  western  city  full  of  the  energy  and  crude¬ 
ness  of  a  new  country  he  is  building  a  larger  structure,  to 
which  task  we  bid  him  God-speed. 

1  have  endeavored  to  show  how  four  young  men  in  their 
several  towns  interpreted  life  and  in  so  doing  have  accom¬ 
plished  deeds  of  which  older  men  might  feel  proud.  One  such 
man  in  every  town  and  the  social  problem  is  well  on  its  way 
toward  solution. 

“What  shall  I  do  to  he  forever  known? 

Thy  duty  ever. 

But  this  full  many  did  who  sleep  unknown. 

Never,  no  never.” 

“Ere  perfect  scheme  of  life  thou  canst  devise 
Will  life  be  fled, 

While  he  who  ever  acts  as  conscience  cries, 

Shall  live,  though  dead.” 


